What It Was Like
by C.N. Smith
Summary: This is my portrayal of how peaceful it probably was in Middle Earth before the burden of the ring came along. [Revised both chapters. Currently writing 3rd. Please reveiw!]
1. Introduction

INTRODUCTION  
  
Althia sat under the stars writing poetry as usual.  
  
'Though no one has found me yet  
I know someone shall get  
through the locked door  
the one i've been waiting for  
my heart shall not open for just anyone  
just love me until the job is done'  
  
Althia looked up at the sky while dipping her quill in the ink which was set on the rock by her side. "Ah, and there's Little Dipper." she said to herself. The sky was so very clear that evening. Every star was in sight. Althia sat on a small wooden chair out in the front yard of her hobbithole. Her younger sister, Annabelle was laying in the grass by Althia's chair, holding the rag doll that Uncle Al gave to her. Her older brother Alfred and her mother Amelia were inside making a big dinner.   
"So when do you think our next visit to Uncle Al is?" Althia asked Annabelle.   
"I don't know really. I hope it's soon though, I miss getting gifts." Annabelle replied.  
"Me too," Althia paused for a moment and wrote her name at the bottom of the page. "Want to see my poem?"  
"Sure!" Annabelle said, taking the scroll being handed to her.  
After reading the poem, she smiled, handed the scroll back to Althia, and looked up at the sky. "So... when do you think dinner will be ready?" Annabelle said with a twinkle in her eyes. Althia rolled her eyes - she knew what Annabelle meant by that question. Merry and Pippin, Althia's two closest friends, were coming over for dinner tonight, and Annabelle had a crush on Merry. "Go ask mum." Althia said dully.  
  
A few moments later, Althia still sat out front in the warm night air. She then looked up to see Pippin opening the gate, followed by Merry, both of them grinning and rubbing their tummies. "Hello!" Althia smiled.  
"Still writing those poems, are you?" said Pippin.  
"Yeah, Althia. We thought you were going to be a healer, but if you want to be a writer, that's fine by us." Merry added.  
"Well I don't see why you can't do both," Pippin said. "Like eating and visiting at the same time?"  
"Sounds like a good idea, Pip." Althia said.  
  
Inside the hobbithole, Ms.Amelia served fresh hot bread, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, steak, and sweet tea for dinner. Pippin and Merry took their seats at the table and began stuffing their faces. "So how is Bilbo? Is he doing alright?" asked Ms.Amelia. "Better than ever!" said Merry, stuffing a biscut in his mouth. "Yeah, I've noticed Gandalf hasn't led him into mischeif lately. That's fine by me," stated Althia's older brother, Alfred. "Poor old lad is just too elderly to be getting into that kind of thing." Annabelle noticabely knocked her tea cup off the table when Merry bent over to pick up a carrot he'd dropped on the ground. The rest of them tried to hold in their laughter. "Sorry!" Annabelle blushed and wiped up the spilt tea with an old rag. Althia winked at Annabelle, and the words "Shut up!" were immediately written all over Annabelle's face.  
  
After dinner, Pippin and Merry hugged everyone good-bye (Annabelle obviously hugging Merry longer than normal) and left. So Althia shut all the curtains and locked the doors before going to bed as usual.   
  
Later that night, when Althia was just about to go to sleep, Annabelle knocked softly on the door. "Come on in, Annabelle." Althia whispered. The door creaked open and Althia scooted over on the bed, making a spot for Annabelle to lie down. As Annabelle tucked herself under the quilt with her doll in her arms, she asked, "Will you tell me about daddy?"  
Althia looked dissapointed. She sighed. "I don't know if I can, Annabelle, but I know for sure that Bilbo could." Althia looked at the ceiling. After a while, both hobbits fell into a peaceful sleep. 


	2. Farmer Maggot's Crop

CHAPTER 1 - FARMER MAGGOT'S CROP  
  
"Althia? Althia! ALTHIA, wake up!"  
Althia's eyes opened slowly to see her little sister standing over her. Annabelle stopped shaking Althia's shoulder and smiled brightly. "Alfred is making pancakes and eggs!" Annabelle said happily as she skipped out of the door.  
The air smelled of sizzling bacon while Althia changed out of her pajamas and into her blue dress. The dress matched her eyes perfectly, a dark blue. She hummed a soft tune as she tied a white scarf around her curly blonde hair. That's when Annabelle stormed back into Althia's room and leaned up against a growth chart next to Althia's mirror. Althia smiled and asked, "How tall are you this time?" Annabelle looked up. "Wow! I'm three-foot-four now! MOM! I'M THREE-FOOT-FOUR INCHES!" Annabelle screamed, running back into the kitchen. Althia knew what height she was already. She was the average height of a hobbit - 3'6.  
  
Althia finally went into the kitchen, grabbed some bacon, and was about to be out the door when Alfred stopped her. "Where are you going so early? Don't you want some eggs?" he said.  
"Tell mummy I'm going to Bilbo's house," she replied. "Annabelle, want to come with me?"  
"Sure!" Annabelle said. She hopped out of her chair and followed Althia out the door.  
"See you later, Alfred!" Althia shouted as the door slammed behind her.  
  
Walking out onto the old dirt road of the Shire, Althia hummed as Annabelle held her doll. Althia looked up at the sky and noticed it was once again a cloudless day. She had been loving the weather lately, no clouds, rain, or thunder - Just sun, moon, and stars. "Good morning, Althia! Hello, little Annabelle!" someone yelled from behind them. They both turned around, smiling. "Good morning!" Annabelle shouted in reply.  
Merry and Pippin ran up beside them. They were both carrying a pile of carrots. "We're on our way to Bilbo's. Want to come along?" Althia asked.  
"Sure we do!" Merry said.  
"As a matter of fact, we were just heading over there. We're helping him make carrot stu for this afternoon." Pippin said.  
Althia noticed them both grinning from ear to ear, trying not to look guilty about something. She knew just where they had gotten those carrots from.  
"Wait a minute now... where did you get those carrots?" she raised an eye brow.   
"Okay so maybe we got them from Farmer Maggot's feild... but there were so many, he'd never notice," Merry said. "I just grabbed about five and ran. Right, Pip?"  
Pippin just looked at all the carrots he was holding. "I grabbed ten." he said.   
Merry's jaw drobbed. "THAT MAKES FIFTEEN CARROTS! Pippin! Don't you know he'll catch us if we take half of his blasted crop!"  
Althia rolled her eyes.   
"You can either return those carrots quietly and hope he doesn't catch you and bring you to your knees begging, or hope that he can't count to fifteen." she said sarcastically.  
Annabelle looked at Merry hopefully. "Can we go with you to return them?"  
"RETURN them," Pippin exclaimed. "We'll get our heads chopped clean off our shoulders!"  
"Ewww!" Annabelle wrinkled her nose.  
Althia thought for a moment. "Not if he doesn't catch you." she said.  
"Will you come with us, Althia? Please! We need someone with INTELLIGENCE to keep this dimwit from messing up." Merry said, glaring at Pippin. Pippin shrunk back. For a moment, Althia felt sorry for Pippin. Always being critisized. It's not his fault he's dimwitted, is it?  
"Gladly," Althia said. "Come along, Annabelle."  
  
After walking along for a while, the dirt road ended, and the four hobbits were in a feild of tall grass. Althia and Annabelle followed Pippin and Merry into Farmer Maggots feild and through his tall tomato plants. Finally they were in the clearing behind the old Farmer's house. Only a few four foot tall sunflowers hid the four hobbits from his back window. Althia could see the holes in the ground from where Pippin and Merry had dug up the carrots. "Okay, here's what we do," she grabbed a carrot from Pippin and stuffed it back into a hole in the ground. "We put about eleven of the carrots back into their holes. We take three back to the Shire with us, because that's all you need for carrot stu." she smiled. Pippin and Merry gave an 'Okay' sign and began stuffing the carrots back into their holes.   
On about the ninth carrot, though, Annabelle saw Farmer Maggot open the back door. "Althia! Look!" she pointed to Farmer Maggot, who was looking around his feild. "Whose that? Whose out there!" he was shouting. Merry and Pippin looked up. "Oh no!" Pippin whispered.  
"What do we do?!" Merry asked urgently.  
"Hide!" Althia said.  
"Duh!" Annabelle added.  
Farmer Maggot was now marching straight out into the feild. Merry and Pippin dropped the carrots, and all four of them ran just a few feet away, hidden in more sunflowers. Farmer Maggot was in rage, looking at his patch of carrots. There were still six missing, and there they were in a big pile on the ground. "I'll find who did this and have their heads!" he shouted. Stepping through plants, searching eagerly.  
The four hobbits didn't bother to wait around. They ran, making all sorts of noises. "What about our carrots?" Pippin yelled.  
"That's the least of my worries right now, Pip!" Althia replied.  
They were almost out, but they were blocked. They skidded to a stop.   
  
Farmer Maggot was standing right in front of them.   
"AHHHH!" was all that came from them. "Please don't hurt me!" Merry begged, shrinking back.  
Everyone gulped as Farmer Maggot took a step closer.  
"Can you little old hobbits explain to me what exactly your business is out here in MY feild?" he glared at all of them, gripping his pitch fork tightly.  
Althia thought hard. She had an excuse.  
"We- we umm... we were just catching a rabbit." she stuttered.  
Okay, so it's kind of a lame excuse, but it IS an excuse!  
"Yeah." came the others.  
"A rabbit, eh? Are you sure?"  
"Yessir." everyone said.  
"He was stealing your carrots." Annabelle added.  
"We caught him though. He's gone now." stated Althia.  
"Why thank you, kids," he said, his facial expression not changing. They all sighed a sigh of relief. "NOW GET OUT OF MY FEILD AND I BETTER NEVER SEE YOU HERE AGAIN!"  
The second the words escaped the farmer's mouth, all four of them ran away from the feild faster than they'd ever ran before.  
  
Back on the dirt road of the Shire, all four of them were panting from running so hard. "I am never, ever, EVER going into his feild again." Pippin exclaimed breathlessly. "Maybe my mum has some carrots we could use." Althia said.   
"Better thought than we had." said Merry.  
"Lets go get them now, then. I really want to ask Bilbo about something." Althia said, starting to walk toward her house.  
"What do you need to ask him about?" Pippin asked.  
"Someone." was all she said.  
  
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TO BE CONTINUED [3RD CHAPTER COMING SOON!]  
  
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Please reveiw this chapter! I've been wondering how I'm doing! :) 


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